


Silver & Green

by sabrina



Series: 25 Flavours Meme [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, The Sorting Hat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 03:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3311648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabrina/pseuds/sabrina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, 1 September 1971</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver & Green

"Severus Snape," McGonagall's voice rang out across the great hall and Severus swallowed, stepping up to the stool with the sorting hat. Lily had already been sorted. He had stood, watching her get sorted into Gryffindor following Sirius Black, one the one of the boys from the train who had belittled him and belittled Slytherin house. And merely a few moments before he'd watched the other boy, James Potter, get sorted into Gryffindor as well, and it worried him that she would be in the same house with _those_ boys.

Severus stepped forward, his heart pounding in his ears as he did so. He'd wanted to be in Slytherin, because that's the house his Mum had spoken of. When she'd pulled out her Hogwarts books to give him the ones that were still being used, they'd been wrapped in a moth eaten silver and green scarf, and he'd asked about houses, and she'd told him about all of them. Loyalty, ambition, bravery, intelligence, and Severus had listened wanting to be approved of by his Mum and knowing that he _wanted_ to be in Slytherin, because that had been where she was. And if he were there, she'd approve of that _surely_.

Of course, at the same time he hadn't imagined that he and Lily would be anything _but_ together. He'd never even considered that it would be otherwise. Severus felt a bit shaky as he sat down on the stool and McGonagall's voice. He had wanted to be with Lily. He had wanted them to be together, but he knew wasn't a Gryffindor. He wasn't all brawn and bravery and no actual sense or intelligence.

_No, you certainly aren't,_ the hat responded and Severus blinked. _You are a brave one, I think, whatever you might say, however I'll concur that you aren't all brawn and bravery with no, how was it you put it 'actual sense or intelligence'?_

"No, I'm not," Severus reiterated firmly to the hat. He hadn't been expecting the hat to actually _talk_ to him. Despite wanting to be with Lily, he did _not_ want to be in Gryffindor. "And she isn't either."

_But we're talking about you, aren't we? And_ you _are not a Gryffindor,_ the hat seemed to agree with him. _Brave you might be, but I sense more of a thirst for knowledge. You've learned quite a bit already - read through each and every one of your texts already, haven't you then? I can certainly see you want to learn more, so Ravenclaw perhaps. An emphasis on intelligence and knowledge, but is it for knowledge's sake? That's where it all breaks down._

Severus shifted one leg, his knee knocking into the other knee, and he offered, "I want to know things. I want people to know that I can do things."

_Now see, that_ is _the interesting bit. You want to prove yourself., Oh, you want to learn, and intelligence is important to you, but it's the tool you use to prove that you're capable, and I think you will be rather capable. I think that makes it pretty clear then,_ " _SLYTHERIN_!"


End file.
